Memorial Day By Hank Silverberg Memorial Day 2019. The United States has been at war in Afghanistan for 18 years. Including the war in neighboring Iraq more than 6,900 members of the American military have been killed, and more than 52,000 have been wounded in this country’s longest war. But if you ask most Americans what sacrifices they have made during the so called “war on terror,” you will get a quizzical look. Unless they have served or have a close friend or relative who has served in the last two decades, they can’t answer the question. Memorial Day began after the Civil War as Decoration Day. Individual communities would place flags or wreaths on the graves of their war dead, mostly in northern states. The first official Decoration Day was in upstate New York on May 5th, 1866. It was in a town ironically called Waterloo, which closed all its offices and stores so residents cold decorate the graves of Union War dead with flowers and flags. The traditi